Embattled Nishank may toe BSY line

Says will quit the post only if someone of his choice succeeds as CM.

He might have his set of detractors within the party and ministry. But embattled Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank is not yet ready to quit; instead he is gearing up for the next stage of power struggle.

Sources here claim that Nishank, 53, would follow the recent example from Karnataka, where outgoing CM B S Yeddyurappa insisted that it was a leader of his choice who would substitute him. Or, the BJP’s top brass would in the hill state take the opinion of each of its MLAs.

Nishank, sources claim, will “bitterly oppose” any move to bring B C Khanduri back to power, given that the 2009 general elections that followed his exit saw the party’s worst performance — the BJP lost all the five Lok Sabha seats in the state.

If Nishank became the CM that year, it was mainly on the recommendation of Khanduri. But today, the CM has taken a U-turn on that and even threatened to expose through the media the “mischievous activities” of Khanduri.

“We won’t like to see Khanduri back in power,” a state minister close to Nishank said. “He was solely responsible for the party’s debacle in the 2009 elections.”

On the other hand, both Khanduri, 76, and former (2005-07) chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari have joined hands to “expose” the alleged scandals of Nishank.

The present CM, who would shortly visit Delhi to hold talks with the party top brass, has told his supporters that he would quit the post only if someone of his choice succeeds him.

At the party headquarters here, several leaders like Vinay Goyal do not yet believe that Nishak is on his way out. “We don’t go by media speculations,” says BJP state president Bishan Singh Chufal. “There is still not any official word from the party high command.”

Chufal, on his part, says he is not in favour of a change of guard. “The elections are barely six months away. At this stage, we should not have a new CM.”

A section of party leaders claim that even Nishank’s replacement won’t settle differences within the BJP. They cite previous examples where power struggle within the party led to ugly scenes.

Both Koshiyari and Nishank, soon after Uttarakhand’s formation on November 9, 2000, had bitterly opposed then CM Nityanand Swami, who was later removed. Khanduri faced the ire of Koshiyari in 2007 when he became CM. That eventually led to his downfall. “The history in the state BJP is very dubious in terms of power struggle,” notes a BJP leader. “So it will not be easy to remove Nishank.”